ROSS PHILLIPS:

After visiting the 'Decode: Digital Design Sensations' exhibition at the V&A museum I discovered an amazing multimedia designer, Ross Phillips. He creates really interesting interactive installations that rely on visitor participation. The one I saw at the V&A was the Videogrid, which consists of 25 squares each on a one-second video loop. Visitors can create moving portraits or miniature narratives, activating the recording using the touch screen. The grid starts empty and the beginning of the installation and becomes a constantly changing collaborative artwork.

Another interesting example is the Head to Toe installation. Four pods around London take short videos of the heads, bodies or legs of the people standing in front. Participants can use the arrows to flick through different combinations. The pods are situated at the Design Museum, Selfridges, Covent Garden or Ideas Store.

This kind of digital interaction looks set to be the future of exhibition design, as the trend for consumer-generated content continues to grow.

JUST MY TYPE:

Liza Pro

Memoriam

Narziss

Geogrotesque

These are my favourites from MyFonts.com's list of Top 10 Fonts of 2009. Love the decadent, calligraphic and hand-drawn element of the first three compared to the smart, geometric simpleness of the last.

POLAROIDS:

Really love the amateur, polaroid style of these images, photographed by Gregory Derkenne. From Annabelle magazine, found on wetbehindtheears.

VIVA VIV:

Was just reading up about Vivienne Westwood for my dissertation topic. Discovering more about her work and views has given me a new found respect for Viv. This is an extract from an article written about her in the Guardian.

Fashion is not art because it is ephemeral. She is quite firm about this. You design what you consider to be the perfect pair of trousers, and then three seasons later you are required to design another pair. "It's annoying." Big claims for the symbolic value of fashion annoy her, too. Anna Wintour, the editor of American Vogue, says that you can tell as much about the world from the fashion of the day as you can from the front page of the New York Times - Westwood thinks this is just silly.

"It's not a microcosm. It's not a view of the world. It's just an item, really - more or less like the urinal, perhaps, for all I know." She pauses. "It's an expression, an applied art. It's life-enhancing. It's not culture. It's not what Anna Wintour says."

Couldn't agree more.

WESTERN SPAGHETTI:

An absolutely BRILLIANT stop frame animation. So clever!

FRANCK ALLAIS:

Whilst having a mosey on It'sNiceThat I came across this amazing photographer, Franck Allais.

"His photography often challenges perceptions by flipping the mundane and ordinary into the vibrant and unusual."

Absolutely love this 'Miniature' project; very appealing a witty.

But my favourites are these beautiful movement shots.

www.franckallais.com

Ga Ga Ooh La La:

Lady Gaga is well and truly the woman of the moment, to the extent that she has had a range of Barbie dolls modelled around her outrageous and pioneering personal style. What an accolade!

Source: Pedestrian TV: The House of Pop Cult

WARPED PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL:

I am currently undertaking my final year self-devised university project; within a team of 3 I am responsible for conceptualizing, organizing, budgeting, promoting, and creating the final Fashion Marketing and Communication degree show and exhibiting the work of the 110 third year students. We are required to manage and effectively distribute a large budget which has been generated through self-directed fundraising events as well as contribution from the students.

The next fundraising event that we are hosting is a night called 'Warped' at Brownes in Nottingham's Lace Market. Here is the promotional posters and leaflet that have been created for us by my talented friend, Ian. The concept draws on an integral focus of our exhibition, the use of balloons, following the emerging visual trend. Love it.

www.upcottdesign.com// www.flickr.com/hello_ian

MY PLATFORM ARTICLE:

Not sure if it will be legible but this is an article that I wrote for Platform, the university magazine. Entitled 'O Come All Ye Faithful Vintage Fiends' (gross I know, but it WAS the Christmas edition...) it explores vintage shopping in Nottingham and reviews two of the best stores. Despite a few examples of ruthless word-cutting and questionable editing(!?) I was very proud to see my name in print!

i would really really like one of these...(or 3 if you're offering)

I've posted about Jessica McCormack before, she creates astoundingly amazing and conceptually brilliant diamond jewellery. I discovered these incredible 'birdbone' rings on her website, so I emailed her about them and was sent some great photos. I love how they can be worn singularly or as part of a giant collection, I'd go for the giant collection myself! A girl can dream...

BALLOONS, BALLOONS, EVERYWHERE...

Advertising, photoshoots, styling, films, art, visual merchandising... you name it, it's using balloons. Loving it.